LinkedIn's new mobile app Connected is replacing their previously released app, Contacts. Connected is a LinkedIn relationship/contact management app that updates the user with information such as work anniversary, job promotions and birthdays.

Photo: LinkedIn

LinkedIn's new mobile app Connected is replacing their previously...

Image 2 of 3

LinkedIn's new mobile app Connected is replacing their previously released app, Contacts. Connected is a LinkedIn relationship/contact management app that updates the user with information such as work anniversary, job promotions and birthdays.

Photo: LinkedIn

LinkedIn's new mobile app Connected is replacing their previously...

Image 3 of 3

LinkedIn's new mobile app Connected is replacing their previously released app, Contacts. Connected is a LinkedIn relationship/contact management app that updates the user with information such as work anniversary, job promotions and birthdays.

LinkedIn on Thursday is replacing one of its mobile apps to help members strengthen relationships within their professional social networks.

And in the process, LinkedIn is swapping Contacts for Connected in a move the company hopes will strengthen its own relationships with an increasingly mobile and younger audience.

The Connected app displays a screen-size notification card showing daily updates about individual members, such as job changes, work anniversaries and birthdays.

"Very purposefully, the app just does that," said David Brubacher, LinkedIn's head of relationship products.

The member can then quickly acknowledge the update. In an average week, LinkedIn members post more than 9 million comments and "likes" for those relatively minor social events.

But Brubacher said Connected also provides an easy way to network with people who might become a key to more important work-related assistance, promotions or new jobs in the future.

"We're going to help to make that network stronger, keep it warm and active, so when they do have opportunities that come up, they are much more likely to be top of mind for those people," he said.

Or LinkedIn members can just as quickly do nothing and swipe the update card off the screen.

That's similar to the way users of the dating app Tinder dismiss potential suitors. Tinder is popular with younger audiences and, not coincidentally, LinkedIn's fastest growing demographic group is made up of 39 million recent college graduates.

Connected can also sync with calendars to pull up the backgrounds of people before a scheduled meeting.

LinkedIn started Contacts in April 2013, the first time the Mountain View company split off some of the functions of its flagship mobile app.

The multiple-app strategy evolved as LinkedIn members increasingly used mobile devices to access the network. About 43 percent of the 300 million members now access LinkedIn on a mobile device, a percentage expected to cross 50 percent later this year.

LinkedIn now offers six mobile apps, including a Job Search app introduced three weeks ago. Facebook has since adopted a similar multiple-app strategy.

For now, Connected is only available for Apple's iOS devices and for English speakers. Other platforms and languages are "on the road map," Brubacher said.